Rail bond



" May 21, 1929. F. H. NEFF 1,713,912

RAIL BOND Filed April 12, 1928 INVENTOR.

A TTORNEY Patented El,

FRANK Il-I. NEFF, OF SOUTH EUGLIID, 01-110, ASSIGNOR TO THE ELECTRIC RAILW'AY IMPROVEMENT COMPANY, 075 CLEVELAND, OHIO, A CORPORATION CF OHIO.

RAIL BOND.

Application fi1ed April 12, 1928. Serial No. 269,500.

The present improvements, relating, as indicated, to rail bonds, have more particular regard to bonds which have bodies composed of laminations or strands and which are designed to have their terminals attached to the rail either by an are or gas flame. This method of attaching bonds of the type in question obviously presents a number of diiliculties if the ends of such a laminated or stranded conductor body are to be all homogeneously united with the adjacent rail face. As is well understood, the bond body is usually composed of copper or equivalent metal of relatively lower melting point than the steel of the rail, and due to the fact that the metal, copper, has no plastic or pasty condition as it approaches the melting temperature, but disintegrates from the solid state to beads of melted copper which exude from the solid, leaving a porous brittle structure commonly called burnt copper and generally known to be very weak mechanically, special provision requires to be made in the design and assembly of elements that enter into the bond terminal so that the ends of the component strands will not be burnt oil? but united by a solid mass of metal with the rail face.

One object of the present invention is to provide a bond of the type in question with a terminal that includes a sleeve of special design and construction, whereby the strands that enter into the terminal are properly presented and held in place for union with the rail in the manner described,

i. e., by solid mass of built up metal formed through the agency of an electric are or gas Flame of corresponding high temperature.

At the same time such terminal sleeve is constructed so as to somewhat more flexibly confine the strands where they enter the terminal and thus avoid the danger of such strands becoming broken due to vibration as is apt to be the case if they directly enter the solid portion of the finished terminal or are too rigidly confined by such sleeve.

To the accomplishment of the foregoing and related ends, the invention, then, con sists of the means hereinafter fully described and particularly pointed out in the claims, the annexed drawing and the following description settin forth in detail certain mechanism embodying the invention, such disclosed means constituting, however, but one of various mechanical forms in which the principle of the invention may be used.

In said annexed drawing Fig. 1 is a plan view of a bond embodying my present improvements; Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same, one end being shown in longitudinal section, as indicated by the line 2-2, Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a plan view of a shaped, stamped or equivalent piece of metal from which the sleeve that forms a feature of the terminal is formed, as such piece appears previously to being applied to the bond body; Fig. 4. is a transverse section through such piece, as indicated by the line 4-4, Fig. 8; Fig. 5 is a plan view of one terminal of a bond similar to the one shown in Fig. l, but illustrating a modification in the construction of the sleeve; Fig. 6 is a transverse section of such terminal, the plane of such section being indicated by the line 66, Fig. 5; Fig. 7 is a plan View of such modified sleeve in initial or developed form; and Figs. 8 and 9 show elevations of two other modified forms of bond terminal embodying the present improvement.

In the several bonds thus illustrated, as generally in bonds of the type hereinbefore referred to, the body 1 is of flexible stranded construction, e. g, twisted copper cable, and the ends of such cable are respectively enclosed in sleeves that constitute thereof the terminals whereby the bond is attached to the rail. These sleeves will preferably be likewise made of copper, although they may be made of ferrous metal, if desired.

In certain general respects the two forms of such. terminal sleeve, respectively illustrated in Figs. 1 to l, inclusive, and 5 to 7, inclusive, are similar to that described and claimed in my pending application filed October 24, 1927, Serial No. 228,217. In other words, such sleeve in each case will be of relatively heavy cross-scction and is most conveniently fashioned by being cut or stamped from sheet metal and rolled into tubular form. Thus the sleeve illustrated in the first series of figures will be made from a stamping 2 having the shape illustrated in Fig. 3, the stamping being adapted to be cut as successive pieces from a straight strip of metal having the cross-section shown in Fig. 4. Whether fashioned in this way or axis of thefinished sleeve.

bond body is likewise cut away on a plane otherwise the stamping, it will be noted, has its longer edge formed with a projecting lip or flange 2 of reduced thickness, and when the piece of metal is thereupon rolled to form the sleeve, such flange is placed on the inside, i. e., so as to contact with the stranded material of the bond body l.- It will be understood that the sleeve may be thus rolled or formed incidentally to the application thereof to the end of the bond body, or it may be applied as a sleeve to the latter and subsequently compressed tightly on such end. In either case the parallel or meeting edges will desirably be broughtinto closely contacting relation so as to form in effect a seam 3.

As a result of the shape of the piece or stamping 2 after the terminal sleeve 2 formed therefrom has been applied to the end of thebond, the outer end of the sleeve presents the sloping or beveled appearance best shown in Fig. 2, although, if desired, the same effect may be obtained by cutting away the end ot the cylindrical sleeve, the

objectivebeing that such end in the finished article should lie in a plane-inclined to the The end of the inclined to its axis (which of course coincides with the axis of the sleeve) but at an angle somewhat more acute to the vertical.

As a result, the lower strands, i. e. those adjacent the longer side of the sleeve, will lie approximately flush with such sleeve, but the remaining strands will project more and more therebeyond.

Referring to the opposite or inner end of the sleeve, it will be noted that the strands are here enclosed by the projecting flange like portion 2 that forms an extension of the sleeve proper and is of thin enough gauge topermit the strands to flex somewhat since they are not so tightly gripped as by the heavier sleeve itself. Furthermore, such flange extension will be well without the zone of solidified metal that results from the arc welding or gas Welding of the terminal to the rail. j r j In the modified construction illustrated in Figs. 5, 6 and 7, the sleeve A is in all respects like sleeve 2 just described, being preferably made from a flat piece or stamping at similar to piece 2, except-that'the flange exten sion 4" is at least in part of greater length than the edge from which it projects. As a result,.when the piece is rolled up to form the sleeve, the projecting corners .4 of the flange will overlap, as clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 6. The flange extension 4? of the sleeve when applied to the terminal will accordingly remain at all times closed even though the strands due to flexure should tend to spread said flange somewhat.

The bond terminal illustrated in Fig. 8 is 'tion here as before.

designed to be applied to the rail in vertical position rather than in the horizontal position for which the previously described terminals are adapted. The sleeve 5 here employed does not require to have its outer face beveled off but will present a ledge on which the molten metal formed during the operation of attaching the bondmay accumulate. The other end of the sleeve, however, is torined with a flange extension similar to those which feature the sleeves 2 and 4' and such extension subserves the same func- Another type of bond designed for horizontal attachment is illustrated in Fig. 9, but the sleeve (S'here employed is a solid sleeve and of somewhat different form from the sleeves 2 and 4:. However, it is here again desirable to utilize the feature of an integral flange extension 6? at the inner edge of the sleeve, such flange surrounding the stranded conductor body where it enters theterminal and assisting to preserve the latter just the sameas in the previously described constructions of bond.

Other modes of applying the principle of my invention may be employed instead of the one explained, change being made as regards the mechanism herein disclosed, provided the means stated by any of the following claims or the equivalent of such stated means he employed.

I therefore particularly point out and distinctly claim as my invention .1. As an article of manufacture,,a rail bond having a stranded conductor body, a

terminal formed of the end of said body, and a metal sleeve surrounding said ter minal, saidsleeve being formed at its inner end with an integral extension of reduced thickness flexibly encasing the corresponding portion of said body.

2. As an article of manufacture, a rail bond having a stranded conductor body, a terminal formed of the end of said body, and a metal sleeve surrounding said terminal, said sleeve being formed at its inner end. with relatively thin, integral, flangelike extension flexibly encasing the corresponding portion of saidbody.

3. As an article of manufacture, a rail bond having a stranded conductor body, a terminal formed of the end of said body, and a metal sleeve surrounding said terminal, said sleeve being longitudinally split and formed at its inner end with an integral extension of; reduced thickness flexibly encasing the; corresponding portion of said body.

4:. As an article of manufacture, a rail bond having a stranded conductor body, a terminal formed of the end of said body, and a metal sleeve surrounding said terminal, said sleeve being longitudinally split and formed at its inner end with a relatively lll thin, integral, flange-like extension flexibly encasing the corresponding portion of said body.

5. As an article of manufacture, a rail bond having a stranded conductor body, a terminal formed of the end of said body, and a metal sleeve surrounding said terminal, said sleeve being longitudinally split and formed at its inner end with a relatively thin, integral, flange'like extension flexibly encasing the corresponding portion of said body, the edges of such extension adjacent the split in said sleeve being formed to overlap.

6. As an article of manufacture, a rail bond having a stranded conductor body, a terminal formed of the end of said body, and a metal sleeve surrounding said terminal, said sleeve being formed from a blank of general triangular shape, whereby the outer end thereof lies at an angle to its axis, and said sleeve being further formed with a relatively thin, integral, flange-like extension on its end corresponding with the base of such blank.

7. As an article of manufacture, a rail bond having a stranded conductor body, a terminal formed of the end of said body, and a metal sleeve surroundin said terminal, said sleeve being formed from a blank of general triangular shape, whereby the outer end thereof lies at an angle to its axis, and

said sleeve being further formed with a relatively thin, integral, flange-like extension on its end corresponding with the base of such blank, such extension being of greater length than such base so as to overlap.

Signed by me, this 10th day of April, 1928.

FRANK H. NEFF. 

